Man City boss Eriksson happy to offer Cole advice

Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson has revealed how his door was always open as England manager.

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Four years ago, when Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole was struggling to convince Claudio Ranieri to trust in his natural talents after a £6.6million move from West Ham, the midfielder dropped in unannounced for a chat with his England manager.

Eriksson said: "One day in the office, in the middle of the week, I got a phone call from reception saying there was a young man who wanted to have a cup of tea and speak to me.

"When I asked who it was, they said it was Joe Cole. He just wanted to talk about football and to get some advice because at that time he was on the bench at Chelsea.

"He is a football man. He lives for his football. I always rated him very highly. I hardly ever left him out."